Posted tagged ‘Robert Tuchman’

Sorry, I couldn’t help the headline! Too many plays on words that could be used to describe the new controversial photo surrounding Michael Phelps. :)

Last time, it was his close win at the Olympics. Now this. I guess he wasn’t smoking during the Olympics. He’d need to take a break for a snack during the race…

Anyways, the story goes like this. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps has acknowledged he engaged in “regrettable” behavior and “demonstrated bad judgment,” after British tabloid News of the World published a photograph of the swimmer smoking from a bong.

I don’t see anything wrong with this but I guess it’s not up to me to decide. Thoughts from anyone?

A photo of Phelps smoking marijuana out of a bong at a party in November has brought his endorsement career to a crossroads, marketing experts say. And the megabucks that were flowing in could soon go down the drain unless America’s superstar swimmer, who won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, changes his ways.

“It’s certainly not good and it’s a disaster in terms of the near future,” said Robert Tuchman, president of Premiere Corporate Events, a sports entertainment firm. “He’s very unlikely to have new sponsors come on board and endorse him. And there’s the potential for other sponsors to pull the plug on him, using this is an opportunity. He’s going to take a big hit on this.”

Phelps, 23, acknowledged on Sunday that the photo, which first appeared in the tabloid News of the World, was of him, and he cited his age as an excuse for his poor judgment.

“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment,” Phelps said. “I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”

Ryan Smith, a sports attorney and BET talk show host, on Monday spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” about how the incident could affect Phelps’ career.

John Roberts: What was your reaction to news of this picture of Michael Phelps surfacing?

Ryan Smith: The thing with Michael Phelps is, he’s not only been an outspoken athlete against drugs so he’s done a lot of testing, he’s been supportive of WADA, which is the World Anti-Doping Agency. But he’s really a guy of high character.

So you look at this, and my first thought was, “What about his endorsement deals? What’s going to happen in those?” A lot of endorsement deals have clauses that say that you can’t do bad actions like this, not only crimes, but just things that you do bad in public could result in the termination of your contract. So he could lose a lot of money on this.